A Certain Metaphysical Experiment
by jordanbairdcreaturemaster97
Summary: What happens when a luckless boy is thrust into the affairs of the supernatural? When a girl filled with forbidden knowledge is in need of a savior? When a demon, who cast away his old life for the sake of power, is suddenly reminded of what it means to be human? What happens when an unlucky esper, a magical index, and a displaced Demi-Fiend become the unlikeliest of roommates?
1. A Shocking Night

AUTHOR NOTES:

So, this is the official first chapter of this fic, now renamed. This fic is _not_ a continuation of Demonic Vectors, that was just a test run. Writing sessions will, again, be few and far between, but I promise to do my best to keep going. Thanks for reading!

* * *

Most people would think it an unusual day if they suddenly found themselves running for their lives. If they had tried to defend a girl from a forthcoming asshole, suddenly discovered that said asshole was part of a whole gang of assholes, and now happened to be sprinting aimlessly down the street in the middle of the night with every single one of said thugs in hot pursuit, they would probably wonder how their life had come to this.

This is because most people were not a certain unlucky Touma.

" _Just my luck!_ ", the boy shouted to himself as he pumped his legs as fast as he could, hearing the jeers of his pursuers growing louder by the second.

"Get the hell back here, kid!"

"You think running's gonna save you?!"

He didn't. He knew that the more athletic members of the gang could outpace him even if he wasn't running on an empty stomach. But considering that the only other alternative he could think of was to fight them, he couldn't really see a choice in the matter. _Best case scenario, I punch one of them out, but talk about a short-lived victory. Man, what was I thinking?! With my luck I should've known this was gonna happen!_

As Touma continued running, panting and ranting to himself, he was too distracted to notice that the thugs had ceased pursuit, that suspicious arcs of static electricity seemed to be running across every nearby metal surface, or that he had passed by the same girl he attempted to rescue earlier without even glancing in her direction.

Nor did he notice the mysterious shooting star in the night sky. One that seemed to come to rest on a nearby bridge.

One that lay directly in Touma's path.

* * *

By the time Touma reached the bridge, he was so out of breath he couldn't even manage to whisper another curse. His throat felt like it was on fire, and his entire body itched with sweat. He looked back over his shoulder to check his surroundings, panting like a dog. By some miracle, it seemed he had escaped a painful fate. Unable to stand anymore, he collapsed to his knees.

"Finally", he panted, "They got tired of running."

"What was that all about?" A voice behind Touma startled him. He turned quickly and saw that the girl he had saved earlier was standing some distance away, looking down the bridge with a haughty expression on her face. Her brown hair flowed in the night wind, matching her piercing eyes and school uniform. Touma was too confused to respond, so she continued, "Paying the hero by protecting some dim-witted thugs? What, are you a teacher or something?"

Finally it clicked in Touma's head.

"So, the only reason they stopped coming after me was-?"

"You got it", the girl interrupted. "They were starting to annoy me, so I dealt with them." As if to demonstrate how, she brushed her hair to the side with her right hand, generating a crackling flicker of blue lightning that danced across her fingers before dissipating. Now Touma somewhat realized that he was talking to another esper of some sort.

"Yeah, it figures", he sighed. _So it was that stupid pervert who was about to be the real victim, huh? Guess it really was all for nothing_.

"Hey, hero", the girl called, drawing his attention back to her. She had pulled a coin from her pocket, and now held it visibly between her finger and thumb. She gave a wry smirk, one that Touma really didn't like the look of.

"Have you ever heard of a railgun?"

Touma was confused. He felt like he had heard the word before, but couldn't quite place it. Something Ms Tsukuyomi had mentioned in a physics lesson, maybe? The girl continued.

"A super-electromagnetic gun; it's an application of Fleming's Kinetic Momentum Theory. You use it to launch projectiles with a little extra... oomph." With this, she flicked the coin into the air, eyes remaining locked on Touma. "Allow me to demonstrate." He followed the coin with his eyes, watching it rise and turn slower and slower until it stopped for a brief moment, suspended in the air. But rather than following the coin's descent, his eyes moved up further, and he thought he saw... someone standing on one of the bridge's support towers.

 ** _KZZKZT!_**

A glowing orange pinprick of molten metal, coated in a spiraling bolt of lightning, whizzed by. It grazed within an inch of Touma's face so fast that by the time he noticed it in his peripheral vision, it had already long since passed him, throwing up a sizeable explosion of fire and shattered concrete when it hit the ground some distance away.

"When it's launched at three times the speed of sound, even something small packs a big punch", the girl gloated, an aura of crackling energy still surrounding her and making Touma's skin crawl. He stared at her with a look of shock.

"Is that what you used to take care of those guys?", he asked incredulously, already picturing the carnage that must have ensued.

"Don't be such a moron", the girl scoffed, "there are easier ways to take care of a bunch of Level 0's, and I know them all." Now Touma was positive who he was speaking to. And he wasn't particularly liking her attitude

"So you're one of the seven Level 5's, huh? Tell me, are the others this rude or are you just _special_?" He knew he was probably being an idiot, but hey, it's not like she'd just be willing to kill him on the spot. "You could really stand to be less condescending. Humility's a virtue, you know."

The girl stared at him, stunned. He figured she'd probably lash back at him, and he was prepared for that. it just felt good to let her know what he thought of the situation. What he didn't expect was for her to smile mischievously at him.

"You must be good", she said, arcs of lightning twisting up her body and causing her hair to fan out, "Otherwise you wouldn't talk to me that way, would you?"

Touma's eyes widened and he stumbled back, quickly regretting his words. "W-w-wait! I-I'm just a Level 0! You can't- urk!" He was interrupted by a bolt that darted dangerously close to him, forcing him to shield his eyes. The girl's smile faded and was replaced with a determined look as she gathered her power in her right hand, forming a ball of screeching electricity that jolted and vibrated in her palm.

Then someone dropped from the sky, landing lightly between the two of them, to Touma's complete surprise.

The figure stood up slowly, lifting their face and meeting his eyes. It was a young man, probably around Touma's own age. They wore only a pair of silvery shorts and black running shoes, and their skin had a very faint grey tinge to it. Occult-looking tattoos crisscrossed all over their body, and, to Touma's continued confusion, some sort of small black horn protruded from the base of their head, just below the hairline. They had a slim but athletic figure, the tattoos branching over their skin all the way up to their face and to the ends of their fingers. They had short, straight hair with several cowlicks, and baleful yellow eyes that gleamed unnaturally as they stared into his own.

"You there", the boy said, pointing to him, "I need to ask you something."

"Look out!", Touma cried, pointing over him. The girl scowled at the newcomer as he turned to look at her, reeling her arm back as the electricity grew in intensity.

"Get out of the way!", she yelled, launching her attack anyway. A massive pillar of searing blue lightning blasted forth from her hand, screaming down the length of the bridge like a freight train of pure energy. The ground cracked and split as the bolt raced over it, heading straight for Touma, with the new kid right in its path. Touma, without thinking, threw himself forward, hoping to push the other guy to the ground.

The two boys raised their hands in unison, Touma his right and the new kid his left. The tattooed boy didn't react as Touma's hand clapped onto his shoulder, but simply spoke a single word.

"Tetrakarn."

Nothing happened. The boy, who showed no sign of fear at the oncoming blast, was struck right in the stomach and sent hurtling backwards, colliding with Touma and sending both to the ground as a massive explosion sent massive tendrils of electricity whipping up and down the metal bridge.

The girl stared, jaw open, as the static died down. She had expected the new kid to jump out of the way, not just stand there like an idiot. Now, as far as she knew, she had just killed two other students. Panicking, she turned and ran, hoping to find an ambulance, or an adult, or _something_.

When the dust cleared, Touma managed to get a grip on the situation. He was laying on his back, with the newcomer collapsed on top of him, seemingly unconscious. Touma was surprised he was even in one piece, considering the blast he'd just received. What was really bizarre, though, was the fact that the boy's tattoos had completely changed color. Initially they had been black, with some kind of luminescent blue-green around the edges of the lines, but now they changed to a faded dark grey, while the edges now pulsed faintly with a red glow.

"Hey, man. You okay?", he asked, struggling to prop himself up a little without moving the other victim too much. The boy was breathing, and his mouth moved slightly, but no words came out. With a sigh of relief, Touma looked out over the bridge and saw that the girl had disappeared. _Probably went to find help_ , he thought. He looked back at the boy, wondering what to do for him.

 _Well... I guess I might be able to take him back to my place._

* * *

The next morning, Touma woke up drenched in sweat. He began to sit up, then winced as a sharp ache ran up his spine. Apparently sleeping on the wooden floor didn't do wonders for his back. _Man, only one night, and I already feel like I've got rheumatism._

Finally managing to rise to his feet, he wiped his brow and coughed. The air in his house was hot enough that it felt like a sauna without the steam. His throat was dry and his hair was matted to his head. Apparently, having a Level 5 esper throw around blasts of lightning could have a slight chance of causing the city's power to go out. Who knew?

"Just my luck", he sighed, closing his eyes to think, "Well, at least I'm probably not the only one suffering..." His eyes snapped open as he remembered the previous events and he turned towards the couch. His new "guest" was still out cold. He had tried laying him on his back (the weird horn on his head had punctured the couch cushions in the process) and draping a blanket over him to keep him from getting chilled in the night. Boy, did that end up being a non-issue.

Touma quickly pulled the blanket off of him, hoping the heat hadn't given him a fever. To his surprise, he hadn't even shed a drop of sweat. He looked perfectly healthy as he slept, and even his tattoos had returned to their normal shade of black. In the light of day, they didn't even look like they had any glow to them. Still unsure of what to do, Touma tried leaning over and feeling the boy's forehead. His skin was completely cool. In fact, if anything, it was even cooler than Touma's hand.

 _Maybe he's an esper that heals quickly or something_ , Touma wondered, _in any case I should probably try to figure out what to do with him until he wakes up_.

His thoughts were interrupted as his cell phone rang. He didn't recognize the caller ID, but it turned out to be someone from the school telling him that apparently his grades had fallen far enough that he needed to take a remedial class. With another sigh, Touma closed the phone. "Just my luck", he said again. _Uh-oh. Two in one morning. Not a good sign._

Hoping the fresh(er) air would help him think, Touma stepped out onto his porch balcony. _Well, I have to get to class, but I probably shouldn't just leave him here. Maybe I should call an ambulance? No, he seems uninjured... Maybe I should try-..._

 _..._

 _..._

 _..._

 _...?!_

He had been distracted by his own train of thought, but his eyes bulged as it suddenly occurred to him that something was draped over his balcony railing. And that that something appeared to by a young girl dressed in a gold-and-white nun's habit. He sat there for several moments, trying in vain to process and comprehend the sight before him. "What the hell-?", he started to say, but was interrupted as she suddenly spoke in a faint, tired voice.

"...

"... _hungry_..."


	2. A Meeting on the Balcony

Touma's hands fell to his sides. He blinked rapidly, as though his brain was burning through all of its energy trying to process the sight before him.

"It's... a girl", he said to himself, as though confirming that what he saw was indeed the real thing. "What's she doing on my balcony? And that clothing... She looks like a sister!" He gulped, trying to clear his thoughts. Nothing in his repertoire of knowledge or common sense was able to provide any answers for him. He clasped his hand onto his forehead as his mind raced. "Well... I'm guessing she's not from around here..."

Then her eyes opened.

Touma gasped, his train of thought screeching to a halt. Her eyes were a brilliant shade of blue-green, and gazed forward with a blank, sleepy expression. He couldn't even tell if she was aware of his presence, but he remained motionless, just to be safe. Then her mouth slowly opened, and she spoke. She had a quiet voice, barely even above a whisper, but her words were clear.

"I... I'm... I'm so very... _hungry_." Touma blinked again, utterly confused. Then he jumped at the sound of a fierce rumbling that echoed from the girl's stomach. Her eyes widened, and she spoke with more conviction, her eyes trained squarely on him: "I'm very hungry."

"Er... What was that?", Touma asked, still seemingly unable to fathom her words, or decide whether she was talking to him or herself.

"I said I'm hungry", she repeated, matter-of-factually, this time very clearly speaking directly to Touma. He took a step back, a bead of nervous sweat appearing on his brow.

"What the...?" He began to move backwards, as though to retreat into the house and forget that anything out of the ordinary had happened.

The girl furrowed her brow. "Are you listening to me? I said I'm hungry", she repeated again, this time more firmly. Touma stopped, but now he was beginning to feel that he needed to sort this out.

"So, uh... just out of curiosity... Is this just something you do? You know, randomly appear draped over a student's balcony?", he asked, trying not to sound impolite. She was possibly a sister, after all.

"It's also called curb-croaking", she replied.

 _What?_

"Say, do you have any food in there?", she chirped, suddenly very cheerful. "I'd be really grateful if you'd feed me!"

 _Okay, clearly this person isn't all there,_ Touma thought to himself. _I think she'd probably be better off elsewhere. Then again, I can't just tell her to get lost. What should I do?_

"Um... Well, if you'd like, I might have a sandwich or something in the fridge-"

"Thank you so much! Sandwiches are my favorite!" The girl beamed, clearly overjoyed. With a sudden motion, she gracefully jumped off the railing and landed upright before Touma, then sprinted past him into the apartment.

"Uh, hey! Wait up!" Touma followed after her, a bit annoyed at her suddenly barging in while he was talking.

As he entered the apartment , Touma saw that the girl had already made her way to the fridge. He walked up behind her as she grabbed the handle, then halted mid-step. _Wait,_ he realized, _the power got knocked out last night, which means that the fridge-_

The girl yanked open the fridge door, and a burst of air rushed out that Touma swore was tinted green. The entire apartment instantly fell under a stifling atmosphere of rotting meat, rancid condiments, and soured fruit, all breathable oxygen instantly wiped from reality. Choking, Touma plugged his nose and bolted towards the living room window, desperately fighting back a cavalcade of dry heaves.

He ripped the window open and shoved his face out into the open air, gasping for breath. The putrid smell, coupled with his already dry throat, plus the sweltering heat of the apartment, made it feel like his lungs were actively self-destructing. _Why didn't I check the fridge before?! I am such an idiot!_ , he exclaimed inwardly. He was worried about whether the girl had made it out alive, but his legs were shaking so much that he was pretty sure he would collapse if he tried turning around to look.

After a minute or so the smell began to subside, and he felt as though he could hear a choir of angels singing as the normal scent of his apartment returned. At last able to turn around, he stumbled back into the middle of the room, trying to wipe the tears from his eyes so he could check on the girl.

"Look, I understand that you're hungry, but you can't just barge into someone's house and try to open-" He stopped mid-sentence when his vision cleared. The girl was digging through the fridge and grabbing all the food she could, apparently not bothered at all by the noxious gases it had released, but that wasn't what caught his attention.

His other guest was awake.

The boy from the previous night was still lying on his back, but his eyes were open. He stared up at the ceiling, his expression blank, his breathing slow. He lifted his left hand and held it over his face, turning it forward and back as though inspecting it, before letting it fall back to his side. Then, very slowly, he turned his head until he could gaze at Touma out of the corner of his eye. Touma remained still, his dark blue eyes locked with the boy's inhuman yellow ones, their expressions equally unreadable.

Finally, the tattooed boy broke the silence.

"You're that boy from the bridge", he said, "the one that was doing battle against that electric woman." He sounded dazed, but Touma could tell he was trying to wake himself up. His voice was deep and mature, with a slight reverberation to it that didn't seem to match the acoustics of the room.

"Um, yeah", Touma responded, raising an eyebrow. _Battle? I wouldn't call it that. We were just having a little disagreement._ "My name is Touma. Touma Kamijou. This is, uh, my apartment."

"Apartment?" The boy's eyes widened and focused, as though he wasn't expecting to hear that word. His eyes turned and stared back at the ceiling. "An apartment... Interesting... I barely even remember...", he trailed off, becoming lost in thought and muttering too quietly for Touma to hear.

Suddenly the mysterious girl strolled around the corner into the living room, arms loaded with food. Now that she was standing, Touma got a better look at her. She was definitely in a nun's habit, like he had thought, but it was all gold and white, with intricate designs stitched around the edges. She was shorter than him, almost by half a foot, and her robes seemed too big for her body. Her hair was a shimmering silver color, with a hint of blue to it, but it was hard to get a read on her age. Enormous green eyes shone from her face, and her expression was one of joyous satisfaction, not that it was easy to see her expression with half of a sandwich protruding from her mouth.

Completely ignoring the boy laying on the couch, she made her way to the table in the center of the room and dropped into a seiza position between it and the sofa, laying everything in her arms out in front of her before pulling the half-eaten sandwich out of her mouth.

"You have so much delicious food!", she exclaimed, turning to face Touma with stars in her eyes. "If you had mentioned it sooner, we wouldn't have had to sit on the balcony for so long!"

Touma's attention was still on the boy with the tattoos. "Well, yeah that's great and all, but-"

"I'm surprised a guy who lives alone in an apartment would even need this much food!", she interrupted, sampling herself to something between a grape and a raisin. "I would hate to be a terrible guest and not eat what's provided, so I'm taking every last bite!" As she spoke, the boy on the sofa once again turned his head slightly and looked at her, his eyebrows raised in confusion. The girl didn't notice. "It doesn't even taste like anything I've ever had! Everything has this delicious tang to it that's really riling up my taste buds! I can't believe-!"

She stopped short as the mysterious boy clapped his hand onto her shoulder, still laying on his back. "Can I ask you something?", he inquired, clearly wide awake now, "Are you actually enjoying the food, or are you just being polite? I can smell it from here, and it's not making me feel like I want to chow down any time soon."

The room was silent.

Touma stared at the tattooed boy, shocked. _Really? He finally wakes up and that's the first thing he decides to say?_ The girl shakily turned her head to look at the boy behind her, noticing his presence for apparently the first time, an expression of terror frozen on her face. The boy looked at her for a moment, clearly waiting for an answer, then turned his eyes to Touma once it became clear there wasn't gonna be one. He still had yet to lift his head even an inch off the couch.

"Excuse me, Touma, was it?", he asked. Touma nodded slightly, his brain seemingly giving up on trying to make heads or tails of the situation. The boy looked at him with a new expression, one that seemed almost... pained.

"Can you help me up? I think my horn is stuck in your couch."

* * *

Author Notes:

* * *

Yay! Finally got another chapter written! Sorry it's taken so long, and sorry if the quality isn't as good. I'd forgotten how bad writer's block can get if you haven't written anything in a while.

This chapter was really challenging to write, because it suddenly occurred to me that I had no idea how to get all three of these people to meet each other and have their first conversation, while still trying my best to keep the behavior and personalities accurate to the characters (conversations have always been my weakness, as well as most scenes where no action occurs).

If anyone would be willing to leave their reviews and feedback, as well as ways I could improve this chapter and future chapters, I would greatly appreciate it. Thank you so much for reading, and I hope the rest of the story turns out to your liking!


	3. An Awkward Conversation

Author Notes:

So, I'll be trying to include these notes at the beginning of each chapter to address questions. I'll try to respond to individual comments that I actually currently have an answer too. Hopefully it'll be helpful!

So this chapter was a bit of a pain to get to. My summer has been busier than expected. All things considered, I hope it turned out okay. I always hate writing long conversations. (So much easier to read as a manga).

Reality breakerr: Thank you so much for your advice and your compliments! I'm always trying to make this fic as good as possible, so it always feels great to hear that I've succeeded somewhere! I just wish I could move the reviews for the Accelerator one-shot into that story as well.  
As for your question about pairings, I unabashedly ship Touma with Makoto. As for Hitoshura, I've always considered him and Pixie to be an unofficial couple by the end of the game. I've always felt like there was some subtext there, and to be honest I think they'd be a good match. Since this fic takes place after Nocturne, that relationship has already been established, even if Pixie isn't present in the story (yet). However, I do have a plan for another character to possibly begin developing some feelings for him, so stay tuned!  
Now, for the last question. Yes, the Imagine Breaker did affect Naoki. I will actually be editing the first chapter because I forgot to include an important detail. Normally, he would have easily been able to withstand Makoto's lightning by activating a protective spell, but when Touma tried to move him out of the way, his hand touched him and momentarily prevented him from using magic. The lightning still didn't do much damage, but it did inflict the paralysis status ailment, meaning that he couldn't break his fall, and when he took damage from crashing into Touma, it qualified as a critical hit and knocked him unconscious.

That one asshole (I'm not insulting him, that's actually the username): That is actually a fantastic point, and I'm sorry I didn't provide an explanation. The fact that the Demi-Fiend is experiencing human emotions and has yellow eyes rather than red, despite having gone through the True Demon Ending, is going to be a plot point that I will address later on.

Without further ado, please enjoy my next chapter, and be sure to let me know how I can improve! As always, thanks for reading!

* * *

...

...

...

...

Touma felt exceedingly awkward.

He, the mysterious boy, and the equally mysterious girl now all sat around the table, forming a triangle. Touma's hands fidgeted in his lap as he desperately tried to think of a way to break the ice, but fell short with every attempt. The girl had finished clearing out Touma's fridge, her stomach apparently bottomless, and now quietly munched on a single cracker, the last one from a bowl that sat in the middle of the table. In the silence of the room, every minuscule crunch seemed deafening. The tattooed boy leaned back against the couch, tense and unmoving. Touma couldn't even tell if he was breathing or not, the only motion being his strange golden eyes, which slowly shifted from Touma, to the girl, to the cracker, then back to Touma, his expression blank.

 _What the hell am I supposed to talk about? What am I even supposed to think? Even with my bad luck I've never been in a situation this weird! Is that girl really a nun? Is that guy really an esper? What's with the horn and the tattoos? And why does she eat so much?_ Touma's mind raced with questions, and sweat began to bead on his forehead. _Okay, Touma, think. Think rationally... You're probably not in any danger, and these seem like fairly reasonable people. Maybe we should start with names? That usually gets things going, right?_

"Er...", Touma started. Instantly, his guests' eyes snapped over to him, the silence finally broken. Suddenly the center of attention, Touma gulped, then continued. "Uh... So, now that we've all... met... Maybe we could, I dunno, start with each other's names?" _Smooth, Touma. You're a regular silver-tongued gentleman. Totally not looking like a loser right now. With the way they're looking at you, they probably think you're-._

"Kashima."

The boy's voice seemed to tear through Touma's thoughts as he said that word. His voice was surprisingly deep, with a strange, immeasurable authority to it, and the slight reverb seemed to fill the room with its presence. He could tell that the girl sensed it, too. Her eyes grew wider, and her attention immediately focused onto him, her expression a mixture of enrapture and nervousness.

Touma looked back at the boy, and their eyes met. His baleful yellow gaze seemed to pierce right through Touma, and he shuddered slightly, as though the natural order of his brain was momentarily disrupted. There was now no doubt in his mind. _He's not an esper, is he? He's something completely different. Something even more abnormal._

"My name is Naoki Kashima", the boy continued, "and you have already introduced yourself, Touma Kamijou." His voice lowered as he spoke Touma's last name, and gave him a knowing look. Touma gulped again, feeling more and more uneasy.

But then Naoki's gaze shifted to look into the girl's emerald eyes, and Touma's subconscious seemed to sigh in relief. The girl, however, had the opposite reaction. Her eyes snapped fully open as she jolted into a rigid upright position, sweat already appearing on her forehead. Touma looked down and noticed that her hands were shaking as well, enough that tiny cracks spidered across the snack she was holding. Touma grew concerned, this wasn't the same nervousness he felt when the boy looked at him.

This was outright fear.

But then Naoki's expression changed as well. It seemed to soften somewhat as he looked at her, and he turned his head ever-so-slightly until he looked past her rather than directly into her eyes.

"Forgive me. It appears I was wrong", he said apologetically. The girl continued to stare at him, her nervousness now visibly mixed with complete bewilderment.

The two were quiet, Naoki apparently becoming lost in thought, and the silence grew heavy. _Not again,_ Touma thought, once again desperately trying to think of a way to make conversation.

"Uh, so, what were do doing, exactly? On my balcony, I mean?", he asked the girl. She jumped, as though she had forgotten he was there, and looked in his direction, surprised.

"Well, I didn't mean to land on your balcony", she said, with a hint of incredulousness, "What I was trying to do was jump from one roof to the other."

"What?! But this building is over eight stories high!", Touma exclaimed, "What were you thinking?!"

"Well it's not like I had much choice in the matter, I was being pursued by-", she stopped mid-sentence, as though she had just realized something. "Wait a minute! I completely forgot to introduce myself!", she cried, her demeanor once again doing a complete 180 as she smiled cheerily. "My name is Index! It's very nice to meet you!"

Touma raised an eyebrow skeptically. "Really? And that's your actual name? That sounds more like an alias to me. Who names their kid after a part of a book?"

"But it is my real name! Index Librorum Prohibitorum." _Well that's a mouthful._ "And my magic name is Dedicatus545. It translates as-".

"The Consecrated Lamb That Protects The Knowledge Of The Mighty", Naoki chimed in, having returned to the conversation. Index and Touma both turned to him, shocked. His eyes flicked from one to the other. "What?", he asked, shifting uncomfortably, "It's not difficult to translate."

 _Well, that's odd. What happened to that scary composure from_ _earlier?_ _I guess Index isn't the only one who can switch gears at the drop of a hat._

"Okay, then tell me this", he said, turning back toward Index, "Why would someone be chasing a nun across a bunch of rooftops?"

"Probably for the 103,000 Grimoires", she said, matter-of-factually.

"The Grim-wha?" Touma had never heard that word in his life.

"Grimoires. You know, books full of supernatural knowledge?", she explained. Naoki suddenly seemed very interested in the conversation, leaning toward her as she spoke. Apparently not noticing, she continued. "Let's see, there's the Book of Eibon, The Lemegeton, The Book of the Dead, the Necronomicon, the Secret Doctrine... those are just a few examples of the Grimoires." Naoki leaned in closer, hanging on every word, and his eyes widened with every title she spoke, while Touma only grew more confused.

" _So where are they?_ ", Touma and Naoki asked in perfect unison. Index startled a bit at their synchronization, before continuing.

"I carry them with me", she explained with a smile. Naoki and Touma glanced at each other, entirely unsure of what she meant.

"Um, how exactly?", Touma asked, "I don't see any books, and I doubt you're hiding an entire library under that dress."

Index glared at him. "Are you really questioning my honesty? I assure you, I'm carrying the secrets of over 1,000 volumes!"

"What, you got a key to a warehouse somewhere?"

"That's not what I mean!"

"Is this some kind of joke?"

Naoki looked back and forth as they talked as though watching a tennis match. Finally he spoke up.

"Are they invisible?"

Index stopped shouting at Touma and looked at the tattooed boy, surprised. "Well, yes, I suppose. The whole point is to keep them hidden so no one else reads them." Naoki nodded in understanding, then closed his eyes and slumped back against the couch, looking crestfallen.

"Yeah, it figures."

"Wait." A thought suddenly occurred to Touma. "Keep them hidden from who? Who's chasing you?" Naoki's eyes opened back up and he looked at Index, clearly also curious. Index's expression sharpened, and she leaned forward, as though what she was about to say was of utmost secrecy. Touma and Naoki leaned in as well, both now extremely curious as to what it could be.

Index spoke in a low voice, with a tone of absolute seriousness.

"A society of sorcerers."

... _Are you kidding me?_

"Really? Sorcerers?", Touma asked, deadpan.

"Yes, surely you've heard of sorcerers. People who perform magic?" Index clearly believed what she was saying, and based on the look on his face, so did Naoki.

"Are you one of those new-age religious people or something?", Touma asked skeptically.

Index's face fell. "Wait, are you making fun of me?" Touma looked away and sighed. "You are, aren't you?! You're making fun of me!"

"No, it's not that. It's just that that's a bit much for me", he explained, staring off into space, "Yeah, I get that there's a lot of strange stuff happening in the world, but I can't buy magic. This is Academy City. Supernatural abilities aren't exactly unusual here, but they're definitely based in science, not magic."

"You're willing to believe in supernatural powers possessed by individual people but not magic?", she asked, clearly indignant.

"Well, fine then", Touma said, looking her square in the eye, "if magic is real and you know so much about it, use some right now."

"I can't, I don't have any magical powers."

"Well then how are you so sure it exists?"

" _Because it does!_ ", she yelled, suddenly very forceful. Touma recoiled slightly at her rising anger. _Okay, maybe I'll try a different approach._

"You know", he said, "I was born with a sort of unexplainable power myself." His guests both looked at him curiously. "It's my right hand", he explained, lifting it in demonstration, "Whenever it comes in contact with any kind of supernatural power, it cancels it out. No matter what type of esper abilities I encountered, it worked every time with no plausible explanation. Who knows? Maybe it could even work on divine miracles." His guests stared in awe at his hand, seemingly fascinated with his story. Then Index snorted and turned to the side, seemingly trying not to laugh. Naoki simply raised an eyebrow and smirked slightly.

"Hey, what's with the faces?!", Touma exclaimed angrily, "You guys look like you're listening to a used car salesman!"

"Well, can you blame me?", Index laughed, "I'm guessing you probably don't even believe in God, and now you're telling me your right hand can cancel a miracle?"

"Grrr... You still play make believe, and you refuse to consider that my hand is something special?"

"Magic is not make-believe! We just went over this!"

"I'm going to have to agree with her on that one", Naoki said.

"You believe her? Then why don't you show me something magic? Then when you see what my hand does to it, you'll have no choice but to believe me."

Naoki tilted his head, clearly questioning Touma's logic.

"Alright fine, I will show you something magic!", Index cried, standing up fully, "My robes! They're magic!"

Touma and Naoki both turned to look up at her, confused. Index extended her arms, displaying her gold and white sleeves. "This garb is known as the Walking Church! It's an impenetrable protective barrier!"

"The Walking Church?", Touma repeated, "What does that even mean? You keep throwing out terms like I'm supposed to already understand them!"

Naoki raised an eyebrow at Touma and chuckled slightly. "You don't know what the work 'walking' means?"

"That's not what I meant!", Touma yelled, "What's with the sarcasm all of a sudden?!" Naoki simply grinned in reply.

"You two are acting like children!", Index screamed, sprinting into the kitchen.

"Hey, where are you-!"

She came rocketing back into the room, waving a knife around crazily. " _Maybe a little experiment will get it through your thick head! Take this knife and try to stab me with it!_ "

"Whoa!", Touma yelled, jumping back to avoid her aimless swings, "Are you crazy?!"

Naoki looked up at her calmly, not even flinching as the knife swept by his face. "I gotta admit, I'm starting to wonder, too."

" _How many times must I say it! These robes have been sanctified in the same way as a church, which means they're as strong as an entire building! So while I'm wearing them being stabbed with a knife won't injure me one bit!_ "

"Yeah, okay, that's interesting and all, but I'm still not gonna stab you!"

"Are you serious?! These robes are an exact replica of the Shroud of Turin. Their protective ability is unquestionable! They absorb and negate all damage aimed at me, physical or magical!"

"I bet Almighty attacks could still get through", Naoki muttered to himself.

"What did you just say?! Are you questioning me too?!"

"Oh, I get it", Touma said, "Since they're magic, all I'd really have to do is touch your robes with my right hand and they'd be canceled out, huh?"

"Mhm. That is, if your power works as you say", she replied smugly.

Gritting his teeth, Touma got up and moved towards her. "Alright then, fine! Just remember that when it's over, _you asked me to do this!_ "

Charging forward, Touma reared his right hand and clapped it down onto her shoulder. A shock of bizarre, indescribable sound rang out and echoed through the apartment as his fingers clutched the fabric.

Then there was silence.

Index, having braced herself for impact, now relaxed and looked questioningly at Touma. Touma looked at the robe, confused as to why nothing had happened. Naoki looked on curiously, then sighed and slowly stood up, picking up the empty cracker bowl and making his way toward the kitchen.

"Uh, okay. That's strange", Touma said.

Index smirked. "Well, what a surprise", she gloated, closing her eyes and lifting her chin triumphantly, "I guess it really was nothing."

 ** _RrrrIIPPP!_**

In an instant, the entire robe shredded itself to pieces, the protective barrier erased from existence. Touma looked on in absolute shock and horror, strips of torn fabric cast all over the room like confetti.

"Er-... I-.. uh-... It-...", Touma stuttered, his mind too terrified to formulate correct sentences.

Index slowly opened her eyes and looked at him, confused. "Um... What's wrong?"

"Oh... Uh... it's nothing", he said, desperately trying to maintain eye contact, fearing for his life. The angry yells of those thugs and the crackling of the lightning on the bridge were nothing compared to the sheer terror of the current situation. He knew that the second she looked down, his life was over. _I wonder if I can make it to the door before she can react? No, I'd have nowhere to go. Maybe if I don't say anything? But it's only a matter of time before she realizes! How has she not already noticed?!_

Naoki quietly walked back into the room with a refilled bowl of crackers, every step seeming like an earthquake in the comparative silence of the room. He made his way past the two with eyes forward, not even giving them a passing glance, slowly passing around the table and sitting on the couch. The bowl rustled as he dipped his hand into it and pulled forth a solitary square. Lifting it deftly to his mouth, he bit down. The crunch felt as though it made the room tremble. Chewing slowly and deliberately, he turned half-lidded eyes toward the pair and stoically took note of the situation. Turning his attention back to the bowl, he leaned comfortably back against the sofa, his horn pushing into the fabric and propping up his head as he chewed.

Finally, pushing the partially-chewed cracker into his cheek so that he could enunciate, he addressed the two silent teenagers, still not looking in their direction.

"So, Index. Why weren't you wearing anything under that robe?"

Index stared, not saying anything, then her eyes gradually widened. Touma felt his life flash before his eyes as her gaze seemed to lower in slow motion onto her body. Her mouth began to open, and he could practically feel her sharp intake of breath, a sound that he knew heralded the beginning of the end.

... _Just my luck._


	4. A Regained Memory

Author notes:

Alright! This chapter was a doozy to write. It is currently 10 o' clock at night, and I am running on fumes right now. But it was the first chance I've had in a while to update the fic, so I tried to work as well as I could. Please don't judge me for the possibly-a-bit-lower writing quality of this chapter.

There weren't really any new comments to reply to, so no Q&A this time, I guess. :(

As far as the chapter itself, it was difficult. Not just because of my exhaustion brought on by a day of theatre rehearsals, a long talk with a parent, and an ill-timed caffeine crash, but because _the whole thing is a conversation._ And, as previously mentioned, _I don't like writing conversations._

Hopefully with this transitional scene out of the way we can try to get to the Demi-Fiend's actual characterization in the next chapter, a conversation I'm actually looking forward to writing, believe it or not, and one that will involve a very familiar character to any Shin Megami Tensei fan, and one that I hope will streamline some exposition and character development.

But without further ado, please enjoy my next chapter! Remember to leave a review telling me what you thought, don't shy away from constructive criticism, and as always, thanks for reading!

* * *

Touma winced as he rubbed his arms, shooting pain rushing through him every time his hand passed over one of the deep grooves in his skin. He currently sat crisscrossed in front of the couch, his back leaning against it. Dozens of very severe bite marks covered every piece of exposed skin. His arms, his hands, his face; even his hair had chunks taken out of it.

"Good grief, you must have bitten me over a hundred times!", he exclaimed, directed at Index. "You're like a really big, really angry mosquito!"

Naoki Kashima sat on the couch behind Touma, also crisscrossed, watching Touma's movements with a look of detached curiosity. "Mosquito...", he repeated quietly, apparently once again lost in thought.

Index, meanwhile, was huddled into the opposite end of the couch, facing away from the two boys, covered in a thick woolen blanket that Naoki managed to locate in a backroom while she mercilessly assaulted Touma. Her back hunched over, she muttered grumpily to herself, apparently fiddling with something that she refused to let the others see. Touma looked in her direction, and could have sworn he could see the virulent aura around her.

"Look, Index...", Touma began, "I really am sorry. Maybe we should just forget about it and-"

"Shut up", she interrupted. Touma sighed.

"Index, come on. You know I didn't mean to _\- gah!_ "

 _ **Thwap!**_

Touma nearly fell backwards as Index hurled his alarm clock over her shoulder, clocking him on the forehead.

"You really expect me to forgive you for this?", she muttered, "How much of an insensitive jerk can you be?"

"Well, I... I don't know. I thought it would just be easier not to talk about it", Touma said, reddening slightly. "I'm actually pretty embarrassed, myself."

"You're still a jerk", she huffed, once again engrossing herself in her unseen project.

Touma groaned, an expression of both exasperation and physical agony. Then there was the matter of what had actually occurred. _She wasn't lying, then. If her robe blew apart when I touched it, then she has to be involved with the supernatural somehow. And what the heck is with that other kid? He's clearly not a normal esper, so what the hell is his deal?_

"All done!", Index cried triumphantly. Touma and Naoki both turned to see her dramatically fling the blanket off of her and stand up, revealing that she had completely repaired her Walking Church, which now shimmered just as brightly and regally as before...

And was held together by safety pins.

"Congratulations", Touma told her sarcastically, "you look like a pincushion."

Index smiled smugly back at him. "Who knows? Maybe I'll start a fashion trend. Anything can get popular with teens nowadays." Then she slumped down, suddenly looking very depressed. "Who am I kidding? I look like a weird nerd in a cosplay now."

" _Fashion..._ " Touma and Index both looked over at Naoki, who was clutching the sides of his head and slowly leaning back. They raised their eyebrows curiously as he began to speak in a groaning, halting voice.

" _Popular... Teens..._ ", the mysterious boy's eyes twitched and he gripped his temples more tightly, ruffling his hair, a look of distraught confusion on his face. " _Nerd... School... Friends... Classes... Teacher..._ "

Touma's eyes jolted open at Naoki's words.

"Oh crap! My remedial class!", he yelled, pulling out his phone and checking the time. "You gotta be kidding me! It's already started! Miss Tsukuyomi's gonna kill me!" Leaping to his feet, he started for the door, then pivoted around and pointed to Index and Naoki. "You two wait here! I'll be back tonight! Don't break anything!"

"I'll probably be gone when you get back, anyway", Index said, "I wouldn't want to get you wrapped up in all this sorcery business after all-"

"Whatever, just make sure you lock up!", Touma screamed over his shoulder as he dashed out of the apartment and down the fire escape. The door slammed behind him, producing a loud crunching sound as it crushed his phone, which had apparently fallen out of his pocket as he left. Index sat shocked for a moment, musing over how one boy could have such terrible luck, then turned to look at Naoki.

The boy had ceased clutching at his hair, and now leaned back in a daze. Hesitating for a moment, Index steeled herself and moved towards him, kneeling until her face was level with his. Leaning forward, a look of determination on her face, Index whispered a single question in his ear.

"What _are_ you?"

Naoki turned towards her slowly, his yellow eyes coming to rest on hers. Index shivered and gulped, her palms already sweaty. Everything about his piercing gaze felt _dangerous_ to her, despite how much she had braced herself so that she wouldn't be paralyzed like before. She felt like a young rat staring into the eyes of a domesticated eagle, as though she was peering into the soul of a creature she had never even imagined could exist, one so utterly powerful and destructive that it could have crushed her in an instant, and maybe even would have done so, had it realized that she was prey.

But now was the time to get answers.

"I have the combined knowledge of uncountable wizards, priests, exorcists, and scholars locked away within me, accessible at any time. Every name of every spell, every demon, every ritual, is carved into my memory. I could glance at the barest smudge of a cave drawing and tell you the exact mythology that its painter believed in, and every god from his pantheon. Do you know what I can tell about you, having fully experienced your physical presence for over an hour?"

She leaned in closer to him, forcing herself to stare deeper into those nebulous, alien eyes.

" _Nothing._ "

Naoki blinked slowly as he seemed to consider her words. His expression was entirely unreadable, foreign. It was as though he had no emotions anymore.

"You don't match any description I have. You have humanoid form, but your body is clearly not fully human. You have a demonic aura around you, but your behavior doesn't correspond to any demon. Everything about you seems like a paradox, and none of my knowledge can find an answer for your existence. So I'm going to wait right here until you-"

" _I..._ ", Naoki began to speak, interrupting her, "I was... not always like... _this_...", he mumbled, looking down at his hands. "I was..."

...

...human."

Index recoiled, not expecting an answer like that. She opened her mouth to ask further questions, but he continued.

"I was... a teenager", he recalled, placing a hand on his face and furrowing his brow. His emotionlessness was gone, replaced by a distinctly human expression of strain. He looked less like the dangerous force she had felt and more like an ordinary kid trying to tap into a deeply-repressed memory. "I went to school... I had friends.. and a teacher..."

Then his hand dropped to his side, and he looked up at her with wide eyes. Index was startled. For the briefest of moments, his eyes seemed to flicker. For the briefest of moments, his irises turned a normal, human shade of cloudy grey that seemed to instantly dispel her earlier nervousness, even as they faded back to their golden hue. They stared at each other, his expression that of a man who had just had a life-changing revelation, hers that of a girl who felt like a completely new person sat before her.

"I was just like... **him**."

"Like... Touma?", she asked, in equal parts shocked by what he had said and mesmerized by his suddenly familiar eyes. She barely even heard herself ask the question, her attention focused completely on the mysterious boy.

Then he leapt to his feet, snapping her out of her trance. Turning away from her, he immediately made for the door, snatching up Touma's cracked phone as he opened it.

"Wait!", Index yelled after him, still frantically trying to process what had just transpired, "Where are you going?!"

The boy stopped halfway out the door and looked back over his shoulder at her.

"I have to find him", he said, "I don't know why, but I have to find him."

Then he was gone.


	5. A Reunion and a Day at School

Naoki sprinted down the sidewalk, throwing up a cloud of dust in his wake. His gold eyes were narrowed in determination, his teeth gritted, as he made his way through the city at speeds no normal human could move at.

 _Where is he? Where is he? Where is he?_

The question repeated over and over in his mind as he ran. He did not know where he was going, but that didn't concern him. He had only one goal, and one goal alone. He didn't know how he would go about finding the answer, he just knew that he had to somehow. He had to answer his question...

 _Where is Kamijou Touma?!_

He dashed aimlessly past buildings covered in billboards, concession stands with holographic advertisements, futuristic cars parked alongside flashing parking meters, but he paid them no mind. He saw and heard nothing but his mantra repeating itself in his head.

Then he felt something.

 _This way..._

He sped up even further as another thought entered his mind, interrupting the incessant question. He did not know, or care, where this thought had come from, but he knew he had to obey it. Pivoting on his heel, he swung around a corner and entered an alleyway, his speed whipping up trash and pulling it along behind him.

 _This way..._

The strange voice in his head was a familiar one, but he didn't take the time to ponder where he had heard it. He was in too much of a frenzy to care. The very possibility that the voice might lead him to Touma was reason enough to obey, regardless of whether it actually would.

 _Here._

Naoki slammed his heels into the ground and skidded to an abrupt stop, his shoes splitting the asphalt and tearing deep ruts into the earth, coming to rest at the end of the alley. He turned this way and that, throwing his gaze in every direction, trying to find any sign of Touma's presence. But there was none. There was nothing around him but brick walls and overflowing trash cans. He began to grow angry. The voice had lied to him! There was nothing here!

" _Where are you!?_ ", he yelled, voice distorted with rage. The shockwave of his scream rippled up the sides of the buildings, rupturing glass windows and sending gleaming shards cascading toward the ground. Dust whipped up around him in a tornado and bolts of energy crackled across his frame as he cried out. Then, suddenly, a new sound rang through the air. One that was simultaneously quiet and deafening.

" **Please calm down.** "

Everything stopped. Glass shards suspended themselves in midair, the dust around Naoki's frame became frozen in place, the static he felt across his body dissipated instantly, and the echoes of his rage fell silent. All was entirely still. Naoki slowly closed his mouth, his muscles relaxing. He felt as though a sort of fog was being lifted away from his mind, clearing his head. The question of where the esper was no longer continued to repeat itself. All he felt now was a very familiar presence standing behind him, and a gentle hand on his shoulder. Slowly turning, Naoki looked at the man who had just arrived.

A mysterious gentleman stood before him, completely untouched by the dust particles in the air. He was adorned in a sleek, impeccable suit with a muted violet hue. A brilliant golden tie adorned his ivory-white collar, and an equally bright handkerchief barely protruded from his breast pocket. He had smooth, pale skin and a young-looking face, adorned by a gentle smile. His long blonde hair gleamed in the faint sunlight, as did the green and orange rings adorning his slender hand that now rested on Naoki's shoulder. Most striking, though, were his eyes. Glowing vibrantly in the dimness of the alleyway, they were sharp and intimidating, but still somehow soft and inviting. His right eye shone crimson, his left eye a brilliant sapphire blue.

Naoki's mouth slowly broke into a smile as he recognized the individual, and all his worries seemed to fade. The man returned the expression, looking almost relieved to have found him.

"Hello, Mr. Cypher", the boy said, nodding respectfully. "It's good to see you."

"You as well, young Mr. Kashima", the man replied. "Come. We have a lot to talk about."

* * *

"Welcome to Remedial Class!"

A young-sounding voice snapped Touma out of his daydream and drew his attention to the front of the classroom. Ms Tsukuyomi had begun her lesson. Touma sighed, bored out of his mind before it had even started. It wasn't that Ms Tsukuyomi wasn't a decent teacher, it was he himself that was the problem.

 _What good is a lecture gonna do? We all know I'm hopeless as an esper._

"Now, I know this may be bad news for a lot of you, but I had some extra time, so I wrote a pop quiz for you to take today." A collective, tormented groan echoed throughout the classroom. Touma didn't say anything, but he too felt the crushing weight of his boredom grow even heavier. This was a class for the rejects of the Power Curriculum Program, the espers whose powers were either nonexistent, or so pathetically simple that they barely qualified. Every student present had glazed eyes and apathetic expressions, and Touma was among that group. There were only three people who didn't seem to mind the monotony: the teacher, and the two boys sitting alongside Touma. Or, as the rest of the school called them, the Idiot Trio.

"You'll want to do your best on it!", the teacher chirped, her smile unwavering, "If you don't, you'll be playing a game of One-Eyed Poker after class." Another groan, even louder than the first, rang out. This time, even Touma couldn't keep a slight grunt from escaping his lips. The boy to Touma's right leaned back in his seat, smiling. He had blonde hair that was just as spiky as Touma's, though it was clearly natural rather than gelled, and a pair of large sunglasses that hid his eyes. His demeanor was entirely relaxed, as though he were on vacation rather than in what basically amounted to detention.

"Ah, I remember that one", he said, "Is that the game where you gotta play Poker with a blindfold on?"

"That's it", the boy in front of him said, with a hint of enthusiasm, "With the added bonus that you can't leave the room until you've won ten hands in a row." He turned around and grinned widely at Touma, inviting him to join the conversation. His hair was light blue in color, and swept out messily across the sides. His eyes seemed perpetually closed (Touma often marveled at how one could stare at girls without opening their eyes), and twinkling piercings adorned his ears.

"Ah geez", the blonde kid said, also turning toward Touma, "Remember last time we played this? We were stuck here until like three in the morning."

Touma rolled his eyes in response. These two boys, Motoharu Tsuchimikado and Pierce Aogami (not that that was his real name), were the only students in the entire academy whose grades were as low as Touma's. Even they had gotten a few points, though. He couldn't even say that much. As if in response, Ms Tsukuyomi chimed in again as she craned up to write on the board.

"You're the exception, Kamijou. You still don't have enough development points, so you'll be playing the game whether you want to or not." Touma growled in resignation, clutching his forehead. He'd expected that, but it was still grating to hear. His annoyance only grew when Pierce leaned over to him with an unsettling smirk.

"Our sweet little teacher totally has a thing for you, man! Are you really telling me you don't see it?!", he whispered excitedly.

"Oh shut up. She gave me lot of extra work. I'm pretty sure that doesn't mean she likes me."

"Bro, did you even hear? She's keeping you after school to punish you. Don't even try to tell me that isn't kinda hot."

"Oh so you're not just a pervert now, you're also a masochist?"

"Mhmhahaha!", Pierce giggled, hugging himself blissfully, his mind already filling with all kinds of indecent scenarios involving their teacher. "It's a big, wide world out there, buddy. Filled with a whole variety of lovely women. Why would I wanna limit myself?"

"Boy, a real stand up guy you are", Touma muttered, "Now stop it with the wiggling, you're freaking me out."

Ms Tsukuyomi turned around to address them, and Touma found himself sizing her up in spite of himself. She was so short she could pass for a 6th grader if she wanted, and her lace-edged dress didn't help make the distinction. Her body had apparently forgotten to try out puberty, and he'd heard the stories of how difficult it was for her to apply at the school, with the whole staff thinking it was some middle school prank. Her eyes were huge and youthful, and never seemed to drop their cheery shimmer, gleaming beneath a head of chin-length hair. And all of it, dress, hair, and eyes, were a vibrant pink that seemed to make her the embodiment of girlishness. _Yeah, no. The lolicon route is one I'm not trying out. I'll leave that to the blue pervert._

"Keep it quiet back there, okay guys? Keep it up and I'll have you playing more than One-Eyed Poker. There are some even more difficult games I know." Despite clearly being a threat, she delivered her words so cheerfully that she might as well have been saying good morning. Pierce giggled again under his breath in response. Motoharu obediently shut up, shaking his head in amusement. Touma grimaced and turned to gaze out the window.

"Just my luck."

The girls' tennis team was practicing in the courtyard. Apparently it was an off day for them because none of them seemed to be using their powers, instead playing like normal people elsewhere in the world would. His eyes reflexively focused on the ones with the nicest legs as he became lost in thought.

 _I wonder how my guests are doing? Maybe I should have given them directions to the store or the police station in case something comes up. And what's the deal with all the weird stuff they were saying? Something about like a million books? And what's the deal with that Kashima guy?_

"Oh, teacher!", Pierce's voice rang out happily, "Kamijou's staring at the tennis team instead of paying attention to you!"

"Dude, what the hell?!", Touma snapped, wheeling around to face him. Pierce grinned mischievously in response. But then Touma saw a much more worrying sight. Ms Tsukuyomi's eyes had lost their gleam, and now grew shiny as tears slowly welled up along her eyelid. She clutched her clipboard to her chest, shaking, as she struggled to hold back sobs that shook her tiny frame.

The air seemed to grow crushingly heavy as nine young espers slowly turned to gaze back at Touma, sending forth piercing glares of such anger that the light seemed to shrink away from him. Then they began chanting in low, dangerous voices.

"You made her cry."

" _You made her cry._ "

" _ **You made her cry.**_ "

Motoharu chuckled nervously, leaning back to avoid their vile stares, while Pierce continued gazing at Touma with wicked glee. The spiky-haired boy, the lowest of the Level-0 espers, simply sighed and slumped onto his desk, head in his hands.

 _Yep, just my luck._

* * *

The sun was just beginning to set, casting it's fiery glow across Academy City and lengthening shadows into intricate towers of darkness. Naoki Kashima and Louis Cypher both stood watching the beautiful spectacle from the top of a skyscraper, the wind blowing past and lazily rustling their hair. Craning his head down, the boy looked over the edge at the tiny silhouettes of nameless citizens milling here and there. With his inhuman vision, he could pick out individuals of all kinds. Students, police, parents, dropouts, salarymen, all sorts of people going to and from work, school, and home.

"It's nice isn't it?", Mr. Cypher chimed in. "Reminding ourselves of what we have fought for. So many individuals, so unique in their backgrounds and desires, and yet so unified in their core nature. So many possibilities to be explored, if only they were all given the same chances."

Naoki nodded slowly.

"What happened?", he asked, still looking down, "Why am I in this place?"

Mr. Cypher turned and looked at his pupil solemnly. "I truly wish I could tell you. There are many questions that go without ever being answered. Sometimes for the best, and sometimes to disastrous results. Even I am eluded by some truths."

Naoki nodded again, somewhat expecting an answer like that. There were other things on his mind, too.

"What happened to my power?", he asked, looking at his teacher, "On the bridge I was struck by an attack that should have been meaningless. But somehow it struck me down with enough force to knock me unconscious. I was forced to rely on humans for shelter, I was so helpless."

Mr. Cypher turned and began walking past Naoki as he spoke. "It would appear that you have lost possession of the Masakados Magatama. Additionally, your strength has been all but stripped away by a mysterious power, as though to prepare you for entering this world."

Naoki turned and followed him. The two crossed to the middle of the rooftop, where two ornate chairs had just appeared across from one another. Sitting down, they continued conversing.

"There is another thing that has changed about you as well. I doubt you have noticed it, but it is the most worrisome aspect of this situation."

Naoki looked concerned, and Mr. Cypher pointed to him in response.

"There it is", he said, "Your humanity. The emotions and vulnerability that you gave away for the sake of becoming the vessel of Chaos, the True Demon, that you chose to be." He fixed his gaze on Naoki's, red and blue eyes across from pale yellow ones.

"It's been returned."

The wind rushed past as the weight of Mr. Cypher's words sank in. Naoki's eyes widened, and he slowly lifted his shaking hands, staring at them. It was true. His skin was no longer the jet-black it should have been, and his markings no longer glowed. Hurriedly, he pulled Touma's broken phone from his pocket and stared at the cracked screen, looking at his fractured reflection. Myriad eyes of baleful yellow stared back at him, no longer the blood-red coals they had been.

"It's why you were able to speak with the people who found you. The reason you didn't simply ignore their presence and leave, particularly when you suspected that the girl might be a servant of Law. You talked with them and identified with them, even eating their food, conversing as though you were another human."

The device slipped from the boy's hands and clattered to the ground. Emotions rushed through him. Fear, confusion, despair, anger, all things he had long since given up the need to feel now poured into his mind, and he clutched his head in his hands.

"... _No... It's not possible..._ ", he said quietly, his voice quivering, " _... What could have done this?... And why?..._ "

He winced in pain as a burning sensation struck his eyes. They felt as though they were sizzling. " _What's happening?_ ", he exclaimed.

Louis Cypher gently reached out his hand and paced it on the boy's head, his expression soft.

"Don't you remember?", he asked his student, "You've done it before. It's just been so long since you've felt what it's like...

"You're crying."

* * *

" _It is now student curfew. All students, please return home._ "

Touma trudged numbly through the courtyard, bag slung over his shoulder. Hearing the announcement on the intercom, he let out yet another resigned sigh.

"Geez, the game went that late? I figured it probably took like an hour. Definitely felt longer, what with having to hear her keep trying not to cry."

" _HEY!_ "

Touma was jostled back to reality by a very familiar voice, one that he wasn't exactly wanting to hear. He turned around and, sure enough, the brown-haired Level-5 girl was running toward him, a look of rage on her face. Marching up to him, she grabbed his collar and yelled at his face.

"What the hell are you _doing_ here?!"

Touma was surprised at her anger, but he tried not to change his expression. He wouldn't give her the satisfaction of making him flinch.

"What am _I_ doing here?", he responded, "What are _you_ doing here? This isn't your school, Bug-Zapper."

"Don't try to change the subject! And _don't call me that!_ ", she cried back, clutching his collar tighter. Tiny blue sparks began crackling across his shirt, and he got the feeling he should probably try to get her to leave as soon as possible. "I have a proper name, okay? It's Mikoto Misaka! Don't tell me you've been calling me that to-!"

"Why are you here?", Touma interrupted, keeping his unamused expression fixed on his face, "You in remedial, too?"

"R-Remedial?! Don't be ridiculous! Anyway why are you even alive right now?! Last night on the bridge I blasted you and that other kid with so much lightning you should have been a twitching wreck, but then when I came back with an ambulance you were both completely gone!"

"Oh, I get it. You were worried about me and Naoki, huh?" Touma felt like an asshole, but he _really_ felt like someone should do something about this girl's attitude. "Surprised you'd come all the way out here to tell a guy you cared about him"

" ** _WHAT?!_** ", she screamed, sending shrieking arcs of electricity in all directions and shoving Touma backwards with a pulse of kinetic energy. Students across the campus groaned in annoyance as their phones sparked and died, and a group of cleaning robots nearby wailed as they were slammed together by a wave of magnetism. Touma straightened up involuntarily, jolts of pain shooting through his legs and up his back.

Mikoto panted as the lightning died down, pointing a finger at Touma haughtily.

"How's that? Did that wake you up? You ready to fight me?"

"Will you give it a rest?!", Touma shot back once he could move his jaw again, "Thanks to you, my air-conditioning is fried, my food is rotten, my guest almost got a fever, and if it wasn't already missing, you would have blown up my phone!"

"It's your fault for pissing off a Level-5!"

"Why the hell are you even pissed?! I didn't do anything! Even after you almost blew me and my guest up!"

" _Exactly!_ " A crowd was beginning to gather, wondering why the Railgun was yelling at a member of the Idiot Trio. They looked back and forth between the two screaming espers like they were watching a non-powered tennis match. "You just sit there in front of a lightning bolt like you've got a death wish, and then you refuse to retaliate! Am I not good enough for you to fight, is that it?! Or are you just not willing to hit a girl?!"

"We are _not_ gonna start arguing about gender equality right now, okay?! I'm going back to my apartment, and you can't stop me!" Touma pivoted on his heel and began to stride away across the courtyard, taking the largest steps he could to emphasize his point.

"Hey! This isn't over! You're gonna-!"

" **Emergency. Aggressive AIM discharge detected. System malfunction.** " The collapsed cleaning robots began to spin wildly, flashing red and beeping furiously as they rocketed across the grass toward the two espers, who immediately panicked and sprinted in the opposite direction.

"You idiot!", Touma shouted as he ran, "What did you think was gonna happen if you used your powers on school grounds?!"

"Shut up!", she yelled back, quickly beginning to pass him, "We need to get out of here!"

* * *

Naoki and Mr Cypher gazed out over the city once again. The sunlight had all but faded, and the night lights of the city began to flicker into existence. Naoki had ceased crying, but he still felt the lingerings of fear. His master had given him a brief but effective summary of what Academy City was, what espers were, and what he could expect from the locals.

"And you have no idea who could have possibly done this to me?"

"None that seem plausible", Mr Cypher replied, "To strip away the power of the Chaos King is... unthinkable."

Naoki grunted in agreement.

The two sat in silence, pondering what to do next. Naoki thought about the beings of this world, and how they had interacted with him.

 _They have no idea what I am. They don't know who I was, where I've come from, or what I could do to them. If they did, they would flee. But they barely even bothered asking questions. they simply accepted my presence and carried on with their lives. And the way they interacted..._ Naoki almost smiled, remembering the petty arguments between Touma and the girl. _I don't even remember what that's like. To have friends. To not fight. To simply... be._

Then the atmosphere changed. Everything seemed to darken. An immense pressure weighed down on him from all directions. He barely had a moment to notice the change take place before Mr Cypher's hand clasped onto his shoulder. Turning to look, Naoki almost cried out in shock. His master's form was flickering rapidly, shifting between his young self, an old man, a little boy, a gleaming angel, a grimacing demon, and others. But all of his forms shared one feature: a massive gash across his face, as though he had been slashed with a knife moments ago. The wound pulsated and writhed, emitting a vibrant green glow that was rather pleasing to the eye, but somehow felt distinctly _wrong._

And, most worryingly, there was another person standing just behind him, a grinning figure with a marked face.

" **N** a **o _k_** _i, C **A**_ **n yo _U_** _HE_ **a _r m_** E?" Mr Cypher's voice was strangled and distorted, changing along with his form. In the brief moments that his face was human, his expression was one of distraught terror. Naoki recoiled, barely able to nod in response. "L _i **ste**_ N t **O** _M **e, P**_ _Le **ASe.**_ Yo _u N **eed**_ **T** _o **F** iN_ **D her.** "

"What?" Naoki stepped back slightly, preparing to defend himself.

" **S** _hE **W**_ **ho _h_** _old **S**_ **A** _LL s **K**_ ill _ **S!**_ Fi **N _d s_ He **W _h_ o **h** _OLd **s a**_ **LL** _Sk **I**_ **ll** s!" Mr Cypher's voice was growing more panicked, and the wound on his morphing face began to contract, turning a brilliant gold color.

Naoki opened his mouth to try to respond, to question what was happening, but suddenly everything returned to normal.

Mr Cypher stood, looking the same as always, suit and all. His expression, a familiar gentle smile. His face, undamaged.

"Is something the matter, my child?", he asked, his tone understanding and fatherly.

"I... You...", Naoki stuttered, completely at a loss for words, still reeling from the sight he saw. Whatever had just transpired, something wasn't right here.

His master tilted his head, looking concerned. "Did you hear what I asked? I was wondering what you ate in that boy Touma's house?"

"Er... Crackers", Naoki responded without thinking.

"Oh, that reminds me", Mr Cypher said, suddenly seeming excited, "I managed to find this." He reached into his pocket and held out his hand. Naoki looked at his palm, momentarily forgetting his apprehension. Something writhed and chittered, slithering around the bases of his fingers.

"A Magatama?", Naoki asked.

"Yes. Ankh. The First Light Magatama of Healing." Indeed, as Naoki tentatively reached out and picked up the insectoid creature by its tail, he felt a faint warmth radiating from it, and it emitted a pale golden light from the edges of its carapace. He lifted it above his face, watching it wriggle and snap its steely mandibles, its near-microscopic yellow eyes rolling. He already knew what to do.

Releasing his grip and opening his mouth, he let the Magatama fall down his throat with a faint screech.

Closing his eyes, he felt the tiny mass wriggling as it sank into his body. Rather than pass into his stomach, it stopped at chest level, changing direction and moving back. He felt it creep up between his shoulders and onto his neck, eventually coming to rest at his horn. There a scrabbling sensation indicated that one Magatama was consuming the other, taking on its properties.

Inhaling sharply, Naoki felt a soft warm glow spread throughout his body, and his demonic markings flashed gold for a brief moment, before returning to their original hue. The Demi-Fiend breathed out and opened his brilliant yellow eyes. Lifting his hand, he turned it this way and that, flexing his fingers. He felt better than he had moments ago. A tiny fraction of his former strength seemed to have returned to him.

"You should now once again be able to utilize magic. There are supposedly other Magatamas that have entered this world, so be on the lookout. I would, in particular, advise you not to forget that Ankh provides a healing spell." Mr Cypher's voice lowered, and he spoke in a knowing tone, "You may want to keep that one on hand."

"What do you mean?", Naoki asked suspiciously.

Then he sensed it.

A presence had made itself known. Somewhere in Academy City, something had appeared, and was on the move. Something that Naoki could sense even from afar. The boy turned sharply and focused in the direction of the signal, trying to make out the specifics. It had a distinctly mystical aspect to it, one of light and peace, but one of power and danger beyond mortal ken. He could also sense that it was a feminine presence, and one filled with both confidence and a deep regret.

But there was another trait that it had...

One that Naoki did not like...

It was so obviously...

So distinctly...

 ** _Lawful..._**

Naoki gritted his teeth, and his eyes narrowed in rage. Even though he was no longer truly a demon, he had not forgotten this feeling. This hateful sensation that marked the forces of the enemy. All other thoughts melted away, and he furiously tried to narrow down the location.

 _North of here... Several miles away..._

 _Kamijou's Apartment..._

The Demi-Fiend didn't even bother saying goodbye to his master, for this issue was an immediate one. Darting across the roof of the skyscraper, he tensed his muscles and crouched as he approached the edge. Then he jumped.

A sonic boom blasted forth as he launched himself, flinging back a cloud of dust and sending a crack down the side of the building. He flung himself up and out into the night sky, other buildings passing by underneath him. Landing on another rooftop, he sprinted across its surface and jumped again, leaping gracefully across the cityscape too fast for the human eye to follow.

Louis Cypher watched his apprentice vanish into the distance, then let out a sigh. Turning his head slowly, carefully, he looked at the person standing behind him. They were shorter than him, but they stood with such power and confidence that they seemed to feel bigger than all others. They gazed back at him and grinned, pressing the blade of their knife even closer to his throat.

"Are you happy now?", Mr Cypher asked, unable to disguise the disdain in his voice. The smaller figure chuckled in response, a vile sound that caused the very air to warp and shudder.

" ** _Oh, definitely_** ", they replied to him. He bridled and tensed up, barely able to stomach the sound of the person's hateful voice. It was the sound of someone that simply should not be. " _ **You certainly chose your progeny well, Lord of Chaos. I half expected him to notice Me hiding back here.**_ "

" _Chairman_ of Chaos", Lucifer snapped back, despite his better judgement. The figure yanked him down to their level in response, brandishing their knife in front of his face.

" ** _You have witnessed what I am capable of, demon_** ", the being growled. As if in response, Lucifer winced as the wound on his face reappeared, crackling with stinging green and gold energy. The knife shone along with it, gleaming the same terrible colors, and the faintest hint of fear shone through Lucifer's eyes as he followed its movements. " ** _Don't think that I will hesitate even for a moment, should you defy Me._** "

Lucifer barely managed to keep from sighing in relief. _If they're saying that, they haven't heard my message to Naoki. I can only hope that he remembers my words when the time comes._

"Why are you doing this?", he asked the dreadful figure, "What can you gain from it that you can't get yourself?"

" _ **What else?**_ ", they snickered back, " ** _Everyone needs a little entertainment._** "

Lucifer grimaced, disgusted.

" ** _You have quite the talent for deception, Lord of Chaos. You managed to keep My identity from him, as well as the fact that you are the one who hid those Magatamas for Me._** "

"But why restore his humanity? What does that accomplish?"

" ** _You must be joking. An emotionless demon that can't even hold a conversation. What a boring notion. Now, he can CHANGE._** " The being looked past Lucifer, in the direction that Naoki had gone. " _ **I wonder what sort of changes We can expect from him now.**_ "

With a final, hateful, disgusting, vile bout of laughter, the entity disappeared into the impassable space between dimensions, dragging the hapless demon along with them. And all was silent.

* * *

Two boys were returning to the apartment.

An unlucky esper.

A monster of chaos.

What would await them was something neither would ever expect. Blood, scorch marks, and slashes. The faint scent of the enemy, and the telltale hint of magic. But neither knew of these things now. They each had their own thoughts, simple thoughts that occupied their adolescent minds and pushed them in the direction of the Kamijou residence.

A simple goal sounded in Touma's mind as he strolled slowly down the street:

"I'd better get home before it gets too late. My guests are probably waiting for me."

And a simple goal sounded in Naoki's mind as he rocketed through the dark sky:

" ** _DESTROY_** "


	6. A Fiery Welcome

The door slid open.

Touma scratched his head listlessly as he passed through it, coming out onto the balcony walkway leading to his apartment. The sun had fully set, and the city was beginning to light up with billboards and windows, practically another daylight. There was no sound but the distant rumble of cars, the calls of a few nocturnal birds, the chirping of crickets...

And a strangely metallic thumping sound.

Touma raised his eyebrow as he saw a strange sight a ways ahead of him. The building's cleaning robots, similar to the ones he had been pursued by at school, were crowding around a strange bundle on the floor, futilely bumping against it in their attempts to continue their nightly rounds. Touma sighed.

"What is it now?"

Then he took a closer look and saw the object they were obstructed by. Index was laying on her side, arm under her head, apparently fast asleep and completely oblivious to the beeping robots. Touma couldn't help but smile at the odd sight.

"I should've known", he said as he walked over and knelt down beside her, dismissing the robots with a quick wave of his hand, "Hey, Index, what are you doing here? You shouldn't be sleeping outside you know." He gently reached his hand out and placed it on her shoulder, shaking her slightly.

Then he noticed a very distinct warm dampness. Confused, he lifted his hand off her shoulder and looked at it to see what had gotten on it.

His palm was covered in blood.

A moment passed in which he tried to process what he was seeing. There was no way that what he was looking at was actually blood. How would she have even gotten injured if she'd been here all day?

A faint coughing sound snapped him out of it. Looking down, he noticed a very slight rising and falling on Index's robes. She was clearly alive, but it looked like she was having trouble breathing, and there were no signs of waking up.

"Index? Hey, Index!" he cried out to her.

No response.

"If you can hear me, just stay with me Index! You gotta tell me what happened! Who did this to you?"

Footsteps.

Touma sat up straight, suddenly terrified. Someone was standing directly behind him. Their steps didn't sound like those of an adult, but he could see in their shadow on the wall that they were much taller than he was. Slowly turning his head, he made eye contact with the mysterious newcomer.

It was a man. At least, that was Touma's initial assumption based on his height. But as Touma looked closer, the man's features couldn't have belonged to anyone over fifteen. He wore a long, pitch black, duster-like robe with white markings along the collar, almost reminiscent of the ones worn by priests. On his face was a disturbing sneer, accentuated by the half-used cigarette clenched between his teeth. His hair and his eyes were both a muddy red, and his right cheek had a barcode tattooed across it. Narrow, tilted eyebrows led back to ears that protruded just far enough from beneath his hair to make out the five gold hoops that adorned each of them.

But the weirdest thing about him was the feeling Touma got from being near him. It was almost... cold. Like he was something that Touma's body rejected being exposed to. He shuddered slightly as goosebumps sprung up across his skin.

"Oh, that would be us", the man said to Touma, "You would call us sorcerers."

The man leaned to the side and gazed past Touma, looking at Index's prone form, apparently deep in thought.

"Looks like they really did a number on her, too", he said with a hint of regret.

"Why would-?" Touma struggled to find the words to respond, but his brain came up empty. He could only turn and continue staring in horror at the unconscious girl, whose gold and white robes continued to slowly become stained with red.

"Why would she come back here?", the man finished for him, "Who knows? Maybe she left something behind and wanted to retrieve it."

 _What?_ Touma couldn't think of anything she might have wanted from him. _I didn't take anything of hers, so what would be missing?_

"Hmm", the man pondered, "Whatever happened to that hood she was wearing yesterday?"

Touma's eyes widened. _So they can track the magical energy of her clothing? Then that means...  
_

 _She risked her life to come all the way back here..._

 _Just so I, a total stranger, wouldn't get caught up in all this?_

The man behind him chuckled. Touma immediately turned and glared up at him.

"Oh please", the man said, his grin widening, "there's no need for that harsh look. It's not like I'm responsible for cutting her apart like this. Do you see a blade on me? And I'm fairly sure that Kanzaki didn't mean to do it either. After all, the Walking Church should have protected her just fine. Yet somehow, it had been rendered powerless."

"How could you?"

"Hm?"

Touma slowly rose to his feet, clenching his right fist.

"I never really believed all this crap about magic, and I certainly don't plan to put much stock into the word 'sorcerer'. But you..." He turned to face the strange man. "You seem human enough. What, do sorcerers just not know the difference between right and wrong?"

The man didn't respond, he just looked away, not meeting Touma's gaze.

"You attack a little girl while she's just trying to find her hood, and you leave her here, bleeding across the pavement. Can you really look at her lying there and call yourself just?"

The man slowly raised one hand and fiddled with his cigarette as he responded.

"If you're done with the lecture, mind stepping aside? I'm just here to retrieve that."

"That?"

"Yes. I'm here to retrieve what are known as grimoires. This girl is in possession of 103,000 volumes of forbidden information that she carried with her. I recommend you be more careful about such things in the future. One glance at a grimoire she carries, and I doubt a mind of your level could fully recover."

"Look, I'm tired of being screwed with. Where the hell are these books everyone's been going on about?"

The man took the cigarette from his mouth and lowered his voice, as though making sure no one was listening.

"They're right next to you. In her head."

Touma's eyes widened.

"What?"

"You see", the man continued, "a small percentage of the world's population possesses a photographic memory. Index is part of an even smaller percentage that has a _perfect_ memory. Every sentence she's ever read is stored eternally within that abnormal brain of hers. And she's also the only person in the world who's read all 103,000 forbidden volumes and survived. Her head is a library of occult knowledge."

Touma's head was reeling. _So that's what she meant by them being invisible?_

"Fortunately the girl herself is unable to use magic", the sorcerer said as he replaced the cigarette in his mouth, "It's the grimoires that are dangerous. Which is why we're here. We seek to take charge of the forbidden books, before they fall into the wrong hands. After all, just because she's a pure, sweet, innocent little thing..."

He stretched out his arms so that his robe draped open.

"... It doesn't mean that she won't break if subjected to enough torture. Can you imagine someone with evil intentions getting hold of her and knowing what she contains?" He smirked, his teeth clenching tightly on his cigarette.

"Breaks your heart, doesn't it, _boy?_ "

Touma gritted his teeth, unable to stomach the man's words any longer.

"You son of a-", he began to yell, flinging himself forward, "Who the hell do you think you are?!"

The robed man leaned effortlessly to the side and avoided Touma's fist, sending the boy hurling past him.

"I suppose I should introduce myself", he said without looking at Touma. "My name is Stiyl Magnus. But for our purposes... You can call me Fortis931. Normally it translates as 'the strong one', but that doesn't matter."

He slowly turned and looked down at Touma as the boy got back to his feet.

"What matters is that it's my Magic Name. You see, it's the name by which we refer to ourselves when we intend to use our full magical power on an opponent we don't intend to leave intact. For this reason, they're sometimes referred to as 'Killer Names'."

Taking a long, final drag on his cigarette, the man gripped it between his fingers and flung it over the railing. Touma's eyes followed the small object as it slowly descended. Then he heard the man speak a single word.

"Flames."

In an instant, the cigarette exploded. A gargantuan fireball, too big to have possibly come from such a tiny source, roared forth and bathed the building in the light of its flames. Touma covered his eyes and coughed as sparks and tongues of fire poured over the railing, smoke already filling the air.

Magnus, unfazed by the explosion or the smoke, lifted his hand into the air, palm outstretched. As if in response, the flames swirled over him, collecting themselves in his hand and merging into a giant fireball above his head.

"No way", Touma exclaimed as he watched the spectacle unfold. "So this... This is magic?"

The man smiled wryly in response, and the flames continued to grow until Touma was being pushed backward from the heatwave alone. Sweat was beading on his forehead and he could barely breathe as he shielded his eyes with his right hand.

 _My right hand..._

"Now then, boy! Behold the forces you're meddling with!" The sorcerer reeled back and thrust his hand forward, carrying the fireball with it. "Purisaz Naupiz Gebo!", he cried as he swept his arm toward Touma.

The spell shot out from his palm as a column of searing flames that tore across the balcony and streamed down the hallway with a roar, completely engulfing the young boy within them. The building echoed with the sound of the explosion, then was shrouded in black smoke as the fire died down.

Stiyl Magnus dusted off his coat and scratched his head, ashes cascading down from him.

"Hm. Might have overdone it just a bit. Wonder if there'll even be anything left of him when the smoke clears."

He turned and approached the unconscious girl, who he'd been careful to keep out of range of his attack. He reached down towards her, and his hand had nearly touched her head when...

"Well..."

Magnus jerked upright at the sound of the voice. Turning with wide eyes, he looked at the cloud of smoke, which was just beginning to dissipate.

There, in the center of the blackened rut created by his attack, was the boy.

His clothes were sooty and their edges blackened, but his body was unmarked. He looked over his outstretched right hand, which looked as though it was steaming, and glared directly at the sorcerer.

"I'd say there's a bit left of me after all, Magnus."

Magnus gasped. "Impossible."

Touma looked at his hand as the steam faded from it.

"That's right! What was I even so scared about? I saw it work on magic before! My hand was the one that destroyed her robes!"

The sorcerer clenched his jaw and glared back at Touma.

"Damn you!", he cried, swiping his arm in front of him.

A horizontal blade of fire swept out from his arm, careening down the railway toward Touma. The boy looked straight at the flames, unafraid, and reached his hand out once more. As the strange beam struck him, he felt the sensation of the fire flickering across his palm, but no heat. He slowly closed his hand around the strangely-solid phenomenon, and clenched his fist.

A piercing shock of bizarre, indescribable sound rang out and echoed from his hand as his fingers wrapped around the blade. Time seemed to freeze for a moment, then the spell itself shattered like glass. The tongues of fire cracked and fractured apart like a broken mirror, completely vanishing from sight.

"I- I see", Magnus said, his voice quivering slightly, "So you were the one that destroyed the Walking Church..."

Touma only leveled his gaze and glared into the sorcerer's eyes in response.

Then he took a step forward, and Magnus stepped back in spite of himself, apprehension beginning to bubble inside of him.

 _What the hell?_ Magus thought, trying to keep his expression neutral. _How did he do that? There's no way a human could survive temperatures like that! Could it be... Is he actually human?!  
_

Stiyl thought back to when he and his partner had first scouted out the apartment and saw the two unfamiliar boys who had encountered Index.

 _Come to think of it, we definitely ruled out human for the other guy too. Kanzaki already could sense that confronting him would be too risky for me, but I didn't get any readings from this guy!_

Stiyl now knew that if he was going to accomplish his goal...

He had to pull out all the stops.

"One of the five elements that created the known world," he began to recite as the air around him rippled with heat waves, "The first light that pierced the darkness..."

Touma stopped moving forward. He was getting a very bad feeling about what was happening in front of him. A bright golden circle appeared on the ground, surrounding Magnus, and white-hot tongues of fire emerged from it, swirling around his feet and glistening off his black shoes.

"The light whose presence first brought us comfort and warmth, and whose piercing judgement burns away the flesh of the wicked."

The tongues erupted into a spiraling torrent of flames that ran up the walls and crackled across the nearby railing. Touma winced and stepped back, the heat beginning to sting his entire body.

Everywhere but his right hand.

"The miasma that has the power to give life, and to take it away."

The heat suddenly stopped expanding outward and rushed in at Magnus, coalescing behind him as a solid pillar of energy that seemed to screech and groan as it grew in height.

"It is fierce, it is cruel, and above all, it is hungry."

Stiyl's robe flared up around him, the leather edges blistering and cracking as they became singed by the intense heat behind them.

"I call upon fire, to serve as my sword! Manifest thyself and feed on me that thou shalt gain power!"

A piercing roar howled through the air as _something_ appeared within the flames.

It's form was humanoid, but distorted and angular, its arms and legs like dripping tree branches. Skin that was black like tar and bubbled with endless heat scraped and creaked as it moved, a mix of crackling wood and pounding machinery.

It's face split into a jagged maw, its throat a bottomless volcanic cavern that vomited forth gurgling lava with every eldritch breath it released. Eyes, globular balls of white plasma, burning with the intensity of a lightning strike, fixed themselves emotionlessly on Touma's as it cried out with the voice of a thousand screaming animals burning alive.

Touma glared back at it, struggling to keep his footing as a surge of heated wind ripped across his body when the entity moved. It's presence caused the concrete beneath his feet to crackle and crunch, and the iron railings, doorknobs, and signs throughout the hallway glowed as they slowly drooped and began to dissolve into molten goo.

Stiyl's hair was drying out and his skin gleamed with a layer of sweat, but he grinned confidently as his reddened eyes leveled on Touma.

"This is the mighty Innocentius, the Witch Hunter King. Or as it was known in ancient times... Absolute Destruction!"

The giant screamed again and lunged past Stiyl, it's amorphous fangs stretched towards Touma. Touma jumped back, narrowly avoiding its jaws, and swept his hand out, tearing his outstretched fingers across the monster's face

"Get out of my way!"

The devilish beast howled as its body shredded apart, dissolving into shapeless flames that parted as the rushed past Touma.

The creature taken care of, he prepared to continue advancing on Magnus, but then noticed that he was laughing. Touma barely had time to ponder before another surge of heat hit him from behind. Turning, he saw the fire collecting into a mass of plasma on the ground that stretched outward and reformed the terrifying entity.

"No way," Touma exclaimed, backing away from it. "But my right hand..."

As if in response, the beast raised its own right hand and clenched it around nothing. The heat surrounding it melded together and shot through its hand, forming itself into a solid mass of glowing heat in the shape of a bladed cross that the creature held. With a resonating growl, the monster swung its newly-constructed weapon down at Touma.

Not thinking, the boy yelled and thrust his arm out in response, his open palm colliding with the edge of the blade.

A resounding boom heralded the impact, the shockwave cracking windows and pushing Touma backwards. Then the explosive sound was drowned out as that same indescribable twang was emitted by the right hand of the Level 0.

But the sword didn't break.

Touma clenched his teeth and grunted with effort as the superheated mass continued pushing him steadily backwards.

"What's going on? Why isn't my hand working on this one? Could it be?"

Touma gasped as he realized.

"It's because the magic is flowing from a continuous source! I can't put out the flames because they never run out of fuel!"

"...Runes..." A quiet, monotonous voice reached Touma's ears. It sounded like...

 _Index?_

Touma strained his neck to turn and look behind him, and saw that Index's eyes were opened. Dull and emotionless, they peered ahead at nothing, emitting an eerie mechanical whir. Her voice was utterly robotic, gentle but impersonal, as it rattled off information.

"Runes. Definition: Magical words and symbols first used and popularized among mages by ancient Germanic tribes in the second century. Consisting of 24 letters in total, they symbolize arcane ritualism and secret knowledge, forming the roots of Old English.

"Attacking directly will have no effect. The walls, floor, and ceiling are sustaining Innocentius through the use of runes, which continue regenerating the source of his mass."

"Index, is that you?"

"Affirmative. I am designated as such, as the library of grimoires belonging to Necessarius, also known as the 0th Parish of the English Puritan Church. Formally known as Index Librorum Prohibitorum. Analysis indicates you have elected to shorten it to 'Index'."

Magnus glared behind him as the girl continued speaking.

"Currently I am invoking a defensive program known as John's Pen-"

 _Thwack_

Stiyl planted the heel of his shoe directly across Index's mouth, stopping her from talking. Touma yelled in response, but could do nothing without opening himself up to Innocentius's attack.

"You're out of luck," Magnus said, "as long as Innocentius has you pinned. Removing all the runes around this building will be impossible, so don't even try attempting it."

Touma grimaced at him, but knew that he was right. He then widened his eyes in horror as Magnus raised his left palm.

"Ashes to ashes," the sorcerer said as a small fireball appeared, "And dust to dust."

Two fireballs, each the size of a softball, materialized in his hands, one red, one blue. Touma watched in horror as each one stretched and expanded into a gleaming blade of fire that the enemy clutched confidently.

"Squeamish Holy Rood!" He cried out as he swung the two swords at Touma's unguarded back.

There was no time to think.

Only to _act_.

The side of the building lit up. The crash of an explosion echoed across the city, and a black column of smoke poured up between the skyscrapers.

* * *

Naoki could detect the scent getting closer and closer as he moved across the night sky. Sickeningly, unbearably closer.

Continuing to leap from one building to the next, he could pick up a change in the source's position. It had detected its pursuer, and was moving rapidly. No longer based at Kamijou's apartment, it seemed to be trying to get out of the city.

He was faster.

Confident in his ability to catch his prey, he landed on another roof and skidded to a stop. Gazing out over the city, he got a feel for where the opponent was, and where they were headed. Preparing to take off and intercept them, he was interrupted by the sound of an explosion.

He turned and looked behind him as the sun began to rise over the horizon, the night sky fading into a gentle shade of pink.

And a single black line marked the sight of smoke rising from an apartment complex.

 _Touma and Index._

Naoki hesitated. He looked back and forth between the site of the explosion and the distant place where he intended to catch his mysterious enemy. The enemy was closer, and he'd been pursuing them all night. If he stopped his advancement for even a minute, they might evade him.

 _But..._

The Demi-Fiend gazed out again. The target was fading from his senses, concealing their presence to lose their pursuer as they reached the outskirts of the city. This was his last chance to make a decision.

 _..._

Gritting his teeth in frustration, Naoki turned with a growl and leapt back the way he came, racing in the direction of the apartment.

 _Kamijou, your life better be worth it._


	7. A First Victory

Stiyl dispersed the smoke in front of him with a wave of his hand and surveyed the area. The place Touma had been standing was completely wiped out, nothing left but a crater of smoking rubble the size of a large room. Stiyl was somewhat confused. he hadn't intended to create an impact of that size. Ordinarily he would have chalked it up to a fluke success, but now he wasn't so sure. After what had transpired in the past few minutes, he wasn't willing to underestimate anything his opponent might be capable of.

Then he noticed a small trail of smoke, leading down over the railing and onto the next floor down.

 _No way. Did that crazy kid actually...?_

Peering down over the edge, he could hear the boy's rapid footsteps and frantic breathing moving away from him. Stiyl was momentarily shocked that he could still be alive, but as he thought about it, he realized what had happened.

"I see. So he let go of Innocentius's sword and jumped to the side at the moment my swords would have hit him. It was Innocentius and me clashing that produced the explosion. Very quick thinking for a normal human."

He turned back to look at Index's prone body, which continued to stare straight ahead with those robotic eyes.

 _Well, time to do what I came here to do, I suppose. If that boy's smart, he'll get away from this place before Innocentius finds him again._

* * *

Touma collapsed to his hands and knees, panting heavily through his dry throat. His forehead coursed with sweat, and a thin line of black smoke trailed off the charred edge of his shirt.

"This-this is it... I'm gonna die here... Eaten by... A lava monster..."

Then he noticed the papers.

Hundreds of small bits of scrap paper were attached to the walls, the floor, the ceiling, the railing with ordinary scotch tape. Each one engraved with a strange symbol resembling an angular letter C alongside the letter F.

"Wait... Are these the runes that Index was-"

Touma's thoughts were interrupted by that awful, echoing scream meeting his ears once again. With no time to think, he scrambled to his feet and tore down the hallway as a swirling river of flames crashed around the corner and rushed after him.

"Again?!"

The howling creature was gaining on him, and Touma's body felt ready to give out at any second. He knew he couldn't keep running forever, not when he was being pursued by something that would never run out of fuel.

So he stopped.

Turning on his heel, he faced down the monster, which had begun to take shape within the blaze as it streaked toward him, it's eyes burning with mindless hunger. Charging the beast with a shout, he leaped to the side at the last second and let it streak past him, its flames momentarily cocooning his body before his hand dissipated them.

Now behind the creature, he took off once again, hoping his adrenaline boost would keep him going a bit longer. He swerved around a corner, expecting another hallway, but his sense of direction was muddled by the rush of survival instincts he was feeling. Instead of continuing on flat ground, he went flying down a flight of stairs.

And over the edge of the railing into the open air.

"Just my luuuuuck!", Touma screamed as he crashed down onto a set of bicycles left just outside. He winced as he opened his eyes. Miraculously, nothing was broken, though his entire body ached like crazy. He shakily turned to look back up at the balcony, where Innocentius was snarling and gazing over the edge at him, but not pursuing.

 _Wait a minute... The runes. I get it. It can't follow me when I'm out of bounds!_

Sighing in relief, Touma took the time to crawl to his feet and think.

 _Well, obviously I should try to call someone... What the-?_

Touma's phone wasn't in his pocket. No matter how much he felt around for it, it wasn't anywhere on him. That was okay, though. He could just find a payphone. And yet...

He just couldn't bring himself to move.

 _Why do I feel so... disgusting? It's not like I'm running away. I'm just getting help... I'm just..._

 _..._

Touma sighed, turning back toward the apartments.

 _What am I thinking?_

* * *

Stiyl knelt beside Index's prone body, gently placing his hands over her forehead. He gritted his teeth, trying to maintain his composure, but it wasn't long before he felt his eyes heating up with tears.

 _Every time... Why has it never gotten easier?_

He barely even trusted himself to perform the enchantment. Kanzaki had better control than he did, over both her magic and her emotions. Ordinarily he would never even attempt such a convoluted spell, but after Kanzaki took off, apparently trying to "divert attention", he had no choice but to try.

"Once again, I'm sorry..."

A sudden, piercing ring of an alarm sounded, snapping Stiyl out of his thoughts and back to reality. Nary a second passed after the initial noise before water sprayed down from the ceiling. Within seconds the magician was soaking wet.

"... So foolish. Does he really think Innocentius will be bothered by a small shower? Now I'm soaking wet because he thought he could-"

 **ding**

Stiyl turned at the sound of an elevator. There at the end of the hallway, slowly coming around the corner, was the boy with the strange hand. Stiyl prepared to open his mouth, to mock the boy for the absurdity of his plan, to decry his misguided efforts against him...

But then he looked into his eyes.

They were no longer the eyes of a confused and terrified boy up against an unfamiliar enemy.

They were like daggers.

Daggers of unstoppable determination and unbreakable purpose.

Stiyl shivered, whether from the look in the boy's eyes or from the cold water he didn't know. Finally, he forced himself to speak.

"What happened to Innocentius?"

"He's gone", Touma responded, continuing to advance, "It's a good thing you never carved those runes into the walls or I would be done for."

The ground trembled slightly, and the boy stopped. A familiar fiery glow appeared behind him, the howling giant once again erupting from the ground and screeching at Touma's back. The sight of the unstoppable monster reassured Stiyl, weakening the hold the boy's stare had over him, and he laughed.

"You fool! Did you really think a fire that burns at 3000 degrees would be put out by a bit of water?! And those runes weren't written on toilet paper, you won't dissolve them that easily!" He raised his hand commandingly. "Innocentius! I call upon thee! Kill him!"

With an eager snarl, the beast raised its hand in turn, slamming it down at Touma's exposed head. The boy didn't break eye contact with the magician, he just lifted his right hand and caught one of the giant's dripping talons on its way down.

The Witch Hunter King Innocentius let out one last echoing cry, and then was immediately drowned out by the high-pitched sound of Touma's hand. The monster's body fell like collapsing tissue paper, swirling apart into detached strands of gleaming plasma, and soon even those faded from view.

"I-Impossible!" Stiyl's initial fear came back full force, and he reflexively stepped back, almost on top of Index. "My runes should still be at full strength!"

"The ink is washing off", Touma said.

Stiyl gasped. _Of course... How could I not have realized! The ink is running, so the symbols are being disrupted! How am I supposed to beat him now?! Maybe I can carve another one... Maybe if I can just-..._

 _..._

 _I'm about to lose. I'm gonna be beaten by this... this... boy! What is he gonna do to me?! What even is he?!_

"You aren't like him, are you?"

Stiyl's train of though was broken by the boy's voice, as well as his footsteps as he resumed advancing on him, those awful steely eyes still locked on his.

"That guy I rescued on the bridge. You're not like him. You may have something unique about you, your magic, your runes, your flaming pet, but you're human. If you get hurt, you won't heal any faster than I will. If you're hurting, you'll feel the pain just like I would. And if I hit you..."

The boy clenched his fist.

He was three steps away.

"You'll get hurt just as much as anyone else."

Stiyl shook uncontrollably, his vision getting blurry, unable to move or think clearly.

Two steps away.

"What the hell are you planning to do?", Stiyl choked out.

The boy stopped walking.

One step away.

...

"Save a friend."

Stiyl didn't even see the impact happen, all he saw were stars exploding across his vision.

* * *

The entire neighborhood was in an uproar.

Fire trucks crammed the street, police officers and firefighters dashing here and there, crowds of curious onlookers bustling around, trying to get a glimpse of the building. The enormous column of smoke had only gotten bigger since the explosion happened, and residents scrambled out of the building, claiming to have seen some sort of glowing figure moving around the complex.

Mikoto stood just behind the mob, looking up past them at the burning building. She, like many of the civilians, didn't think much of what had happened. An esper had probably caused an accident with their powers and lit their room on fire. It would get sorted out in no time.

"There you are!"

A cheerful voice rang out from behind her. She turned to see another girl running towards her excitedly. She had long, tawny brown hair divided into two wavy, branching pigtails by red ribbons. Her movements catlike and graceful, she slid to a stop alongside the Railgun and wrapped her arms around Mikoto's shoulder.

"Freaking finally! I've been looking for you everywhere!" She pressed her face closer, obviously completely oblivious to the concept of personal space. "I knew there was no way you were being kept for remedial class, and sure enough, here you are, out enjoying a night on the town!" She spoke in a run-on sentence, not pausing for breath until she had completely made her point.

Mikoto leaned away, trying to keep their cheeks from brushing together.

"And what makes it seem like I'm here enjoying myself, Kuroko?"

"Oh, that's easy", Kuroko responded, lifting a declarative finger, "This place isn't on your way home, meaning you would have had to take a detour to get here that you wouldn't otherwise take."

Mikoto blushed slightly.

"Well... I... had to run an errand around here. But more to the point, why are _you_ here?"

Kuroko pointed to a band around her left arm. It was dark green with four white lines running along it and a shield-like emblem in the center.

"I'm actually here on official business", she explained, her tone suddenly serious, "for Judgement. Something strange happened tonight, so I was sent to investigate. That wasn't a normal fire, and we think it was caused by someone with unregistered psychic powers."

Mikoto looked back toward the fire, which was finally starting to shrink as fire hoses doused it. _Interesting. It's not often that you get an unregistered esper. How would they-?_

"Excuse me."

The unfamiliar voice seemed to tear through her train of thought. Turning sharply to the left, she saw a young man standing next to her who had apparently appeared without her noticing. She felt Kuroko let go of her arm and back away slightly, but only barely. She was distracted by the newcomer's appearance.

His hair was sleek and dark, strangely striped tattoos crossed over his cheeks, and he looked at her with baleful, yellow, almost luminous eyes. Her thoughts seemed to jumble up and she shuddered. It felt like those eyes were searching through her, piercing her.

Unable to bear it, she broke the eye contact and looked down, trying to escape his gaze. It then came to her attention that he wasn't wearing a shirt. And that he was rather toned and muscular for his slim physique. It was quite distracting, and she felt her face reddening slightly. But then he spoke again.

"Um... Excuse me?"

She reluctantly lifted her eyes back to his face. Then she tilted her head in confusion.

His eyes had changed.

They were no longer yellow, but rather a soft grey hue that seemed much more natural. In fact, except for his tattoos, he looked rather normal. He looked at her questioningly, almost nervously.

 _Did I just imagine it?_

"... um... What?", she asked.

"I, uh, need to go this way", he explained, pointing past her.

 _... Oh!_

Blushing heavily, Mikoto scooted backward to let him pass. She opened her mouth to apologize, but he had already begun to walk by.

Then he stopped in front of her, giving a short sniff.

He and Kuroko stood face to face.

The pigtailed girl craned her neck up and stared wide-eyed at him with fists clenched at her sides, her entire body shaking and sweat beading on her forehead. Mikoto immediately began to feel a bit nervous. This wasn't how her friend normally reacted to meeting strangers. Or ever. She moved over to try and say something, and then she saw his eyes again.

They were very definitely yellow.

And they were definitely glowing.

He looked back down at her with piercing eyes, far more intense than he had greeted Mikoto with. His inhuman irises seemed to pressurize the air around him, and it looked like Kuroko could barely stay standing with the weight of his golden stare pressing down on her. His expression was dark and menacing, and his fists seemed to clench tighter the longer he looked at her.

He slowly opened his mouth, and Mikoto couldn't help but think that his canines were just a bit sharper than they should have been. He spoke a single word, and his voice, though low and subdued, seemed to echo and crash through the pressurized atmosphere like a direct mental assault, directed straight at Kuroko.

" _ **MOVE.**_ "

In the blink of an eye, Kuroko vanished into thin air. The strange boy stood in silence for a moment, then turned back toward Mikoto. His eyes were once again normal looking. He gave her a look of confusion.

"Where did she go?", he asked.

The Railgun was at a complete loss for words. Her mouth moved slightly, in spite of herself.

"... urm... teleporter..."

"Oh, okay!", he responded suddenly. Turning on his heel, he faced the building, the fire almost completely dying out. He stared up at the dwindling smoke cloud contemplatively, sniffing the air. "So they're already out. Good. I suppose I was worried for nothing."

He looked back at Mikoto with a gentle smile on his face.

"Please tell your friend I'm sorry for bothering her. It looks like I was wrong about her. Let her know that it's nothing personal, it's just a matter of principle."

"Wait, what do you mean-?"

And he was gone.

At first she thought he had teleported, but then she saw a faint trail of dust clouds leading down the street and around a corner as though he had sprinted away.

And Mikoto Misaka, The Railgun of Tokiwadai Academy, who could easily follow the movements of a bolt of lightning with her eyes, had been unable to perceive his departure.

...

...

...

... _What the hell was that?_


End file.
